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In the Time
of Angel
The original Irish Film Board was established
twenty-five years ago this year. The Board supported ten feature
films, over twenty shorts and a sumber of documentaries before
it was shut down in 1987. Michael Algar, who served as CE
of the Board, reflects how it all began.
In July 1981, John Kelly,
Minister for Industry and Commerce and Tourism, established
the Irish Film Board by appointing three members of the Board.
In so doing, he honoured a commitment made when in opposition.
He appointed Louis Heelan (a senior executive with the Industrial
Credit Company) as chairman, and John Boorman (film director)
and Robin O'Sullivan (director of the Cork Film Festival)
as board members.
Eleven years earlier, in July 1970, a Film Industry Bill was
published, but languished in the Dáil without any real
interest from the Government of the day. When that Government
fell in early 1973, the Bill lapsed. The Bill was itself the
result of a committee set up by the Government in 1967 to
'examine the problems involved in the establishment of an
Irish film industry' under the chairmanship of John Huston.
The committee reported in June 1968.
The Huston committee recommended the establishment
of a film board which would provide loans to Irish producers
to make Irish feature films. It should also become involved
in distribution agreements, co-production agreements, funding
for training, advice for Irish and foreign producers on any
aspect of filmmaking in Ireland, and the establishment of
a national film archive. One of the members of the Huston
committee was Louis Heelan.
Although the Film Industry Bill lapsed with
the change of Government in 1973, the incoming administration
purchased Ardmore Studios on behalf of the State from the
receiver of the previous private ownership. In 1975 a new
semi-state company, National Film Studios of Ireland, was
established to operate and manage the studios. Its chairman
was John Boorman, and one of the directors was Louis Heelan.
The full article is printed in Film Ireland
112.
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